Camping in Alabama

We went caming in Cheaha State Park, which holds the highest point in Alabama. It is located a few hours east of Atlanta.

We left after work on Friday, and arrived at about dusk. We had to choose a site and set up camp in the dark (a lot harder than we were expecting). Johnny tried to get the fire going so we'd have a little light, but all of the wood was wet (it had rained earlier that day). Plus, finding wood in the dark was quite a chore. We were also having a tough time finding a place for the tent. The site was made for RVs and didn't really have any level ground. And there was gravel with pretty big rocks in it.

We did our best to get situated, but left most of our stuff in the car. Since we didn't want to set up the stove (and since we were getting pretty frustrated setting things up), we made pb&j sandwiches and hung out in the tent. Johnny brought his PSP, so we watched Office Space and went to bed.

Unfortunately, in the middle of the night it started raining pretty heavily. We were on a slope (and forgot to dig a trench around the tent) so the water went right into the tent. We woke up at about 2:30 to wet sleeping bags and a drenched tent floor. Brittany put a dry tarp under the sleeping bags and mats while Johnny steaked the rain fly further out from the tent.

*****

Day 2

Things looked a lot different in the daylight, so we figured out what we needed to do to make sure the rain issues from the night before didn't happen again. We realized we needed to dig a trench around the tent. Plus, we fixed the rain fly (we discovered we had set it up incorrectly).

We decided to take a walk down to the country store a few miles away. The walk took us around the park, so we got a good look at the cabins (which looked sweet!), the lodge, the beautiful views, and the other campgrounds.

At the store we picked up some long-lasting fire logs, so as soon as we got back we started looking for kindling. We went on another little hike in the woods looking for sticks and other kindling. When we got back to camp, we set up the stove to make some mac and cheese. After our yummy lunch we took a nap.

That afternoon we made a sweet fire (after our trouble the night before, we were REALLY excited that we had any fire at all). We had heard that that night and the next day were supposed to be really cold, so we gathered lots more wood to dry out for the night. Johnny got the chilli going while Brittany set up the fire. Then we sat around talking, eating, and taking in the views.

A little later we busted out the s'mores and savored the warmth of the fire. We realized it had gotten COLD, so we tried to stay as close to the fire as we could (our clothes still smell like smoke). By the time we went to sleep it was freezing. It was a very chilly night,and Johnny didn't get much sleep (he's too long for his sleeping bag). But Brittany curled up in a little ball and slept pretty well.

*****

Day 3

It was still amazingly cold the next day, but we sucked it up and packed up. We took time to take in the nature around us and then hit the road. But before we headed back to Atlanta we stopped by the observation tower on the highest point in Alabama. The views weren't all that impressive (we saw better views on our hike the day before), but the tower was pretty cool.

On our way back home we stopped at one of the "primitive" campsites. It was amazing! The first night we got to the park we saw these amazing night views on this bluff and saw some people with their tent on the site. Unfortunately, we had reserved an upgraded site so we couldn't stay anywhere along the bluff. In the future, we will definitely try to stay there...we've never seen such cool views. Any of those sites on that side of the mountain would be great.